There was a time when Karl Williams wasn't interested in football. It took one play for "The Truth" to become hooked on football forever.

“Every day he left at five in the morning and wouldn't come back until seven. He is such a hard worker, and he would even help with Kalé because he's a light sleeper. He's done so much for our family and supporting him is easy.”

Kiana Williams, wife of Karl

LAYTON — There was a time when Karl Williams wasn't interested in football. His first sports interests were soccer and baseball, but as he grew older and bigger, in the ninth grade he thought he would give football a try.

It took one play for "The Truth" to become hooked on football forever.

"My first touch ever in a game I scored a 75-yard touchdown run," he said.

Since that play he has dedicated himself to the game of football and proving that he can play at the highest level.

He wasn't even the starting running back at Layton High School. He started his senior year as a fullback, but an injury gave him an opportunity and he ran with it.

He rushed for 996 yards and 11 touchdowns for the Lancers, leading them to the 5A state quarterfinals.

"I knew I could play with the best," he said of the confidence he gained as a senior in high school. "I could play at the Division I level in college and I just wanted that opportunity."

That opportunity was hard to find. Offers came from Air Force, Idaho and Weber State, but he felt his best chance to play was at Southern Utah. Williams started at fullback as a true freshman for the Thunderbirds, but a game against San Diego State at Qualcomm Stadium left him wanting to play on a bigger stage.

"I saw the atmosphere there and the crowd and the stadium, and I said, 'I want this,'" he said. "'I want to play at this level. I can do this.'"

He left behind a full-ride scholarship in Cedar City and decided to transfer. The problem was he didn't know where he was going.

It just so happened that shortly after he made the decision to transfer, his mother bumped into a family friend, Dave Cunningham, and informed him of her son's decision. Cunningham trained Williams in high school and also played middle linebacker at Utah in the mid-'90s. It was Cunningham who arranged for Williams to meet with University of Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham.

"Coach Whit asked me why I wanted to come to the University of Utah," Williams recalled. "I told him, 'I want to play at this level and I want to be a Ute.'"

Coach Whit called him the next day and told him he was on the team.

Williams was a Utah fan and Matt Asiata was his favorite running back. The opportunity to play big-time college football was his and it was going to happen at the University of Utah. But then the reality of his decision started to sink in.

He was now a walk-on.

When he wasn't practicing or going to class he was working a part-time job. He worked as a valet, worked with kids and found jobs at law firms. He did whatever he had to do to make ends meet.

"It's hard," he said. "It's probably one of the hardest things I've gone through in my life, but I felt like giving up that scholarship has made me a better person and a better man."

He would soon take on even more responsibility. He married Kiana Fonua in 2012. They would soon welcome a son named Kalé. Life was already a challenge for Karl, and now he needed to provide for a family.

"Every day he left at five in the morning and wouldn't come back until seven," Kiana Williams recalled. "He is such a hard worker, and he would even help with Kalé because he's a light sleeper. He's done so much for our family and supporting him is easy."

Williams would battle through long days and sleepless nights with the love and support of his family.